questions on lighting a standard 29g

[kaceyo]

I had a few reef tanks, or 1 tank I upgraded from a 45g to a 180g in a number of small leaps, back in the early to mid 80's. There was no such thing as led's then. it was fluorescents and halides and even mercury vapor and hps then. Now I want to set up a small 29g tank and it's all changed. Live Rock is "cultured" and refugiums are the standard.

I want to be able to keep anything from sps and clams on down. I'm planning on going with led's this time because they seem to involve far less maintenance and because I've never tried them before. They sound very promising. Trouble is I'm getting very conflicting info about them. I know they can grow almost any type of coral so that's covered. But which give you the best results for the price I'm looking at?

I'm on a budget now, around $100 to $175 is the most I want to spend, so i'm going with the cheap Chinese type and have narrowed it down to a few.

 

1) ebays dimmable 165w (sometimes called 120w) with 55 x 3w diodes. These seem to be sold at many places for a wide range of prices. the best prices around $80 to $99. Is there anything to recommend one over another?

 

2) Reef Radiance DM-165e, which seems to be another version of the same but go for $179. Are they a better product than the ebays?

 

3) Reef Breeders value fixture for $199. See above.

 

Alibaba.com seems to have a bit of everything. Has anyone dealt with them?

 

Also I had planned to put just 1 of these fixtures over my 29g and thought it might be overkill. I've read about people using these exact fixtures, or combinations of them, over much larger and deeper tanks with great results. But the guy at Reef Radiance told me I'd need 2 of the DM-165e's (formerly the 155e's) for my 30"x 12"x18" 29gal sps tank.. What do you guys think?

Do you have any recommendations in my price range I've overlooked?

Thanks in advance.

 

Kacey

[farkwar]

Your budget is too small.

 

Golf is a less expensive hobby, fly fishing too.

 

You might want to rethink your hobby if your money constraints are that tight.

 

 

Here's a good rule of thumb on lighting. Add up all the costs of all your other equipment. Total it all up, thats a good rough idea how much your reef lights should run you.

 

If you can't afford that light, there is no way you can afford to buy animals to stock your system. They could will run you thousands of dollars.

[Horerczy]

I have to disagree with Fark in this. There's no reason a light should cost you as much as all your other equipment combined. Otherwise my lights should have run me ~$900-$1000. They cost me around $600 and if I knew then what I know now I could have shaved off about $200.

 

On the topic of the fixtures shown they would all work fine over a 29 gallon tank and keep sps.

 

The Reefbreeders layout is my favorite by far since it favors the use of low kelvin whites which helps with overall visual appearance. Whatever you get go opticless.

 

A word to the wise, these fixtures utilize EpiLEDs which are far less efficient than other manufacturers (OSRAM, Phillips LumiLEDs, Cree, Bridgelux, SemiLEDs) leds. The fixture itself is still perfectly servicable besides.

[RL206]

I'm kind of a newb, but being that I have set up and tore down 3 tanks in the past 3 yrs, pretty much due to lack of a equipment and no time to take care of them I will say you get what you pay for.

 

Lights to me are a big deal, they make the tank I think. My first tank had a par bulb, and for the cost was great, but every time I went into my room and saw it, my tank didn't have that look I wanted. I wasn't really pleased w/ it and broke it down.

 

I ended upstarting a new one w/ an AI Nano, again, was awesome compared to the par, but wasn't quite what I was looking for.

 

Now I'm setting up my 3rd tank and got the light I've been wanting the whole time, just took me awhile to bite the bullet and do it, I guess my point is get what you want to first time! SO you don't waste your money!

 

I too went w/ the Evergrow, I got it from a local shop by me and it went $300 and it's AWESOME!

[farkwar]

H,

 

I posted this in the other thread, cp'd here. I added the arguably, not as a shout but as a disclaimer.

 

For a reef system, lighting is the single most important part of the system.

 

1) Its how your animals eat. Pretty important.

2) The light has to look good to your eyes.

3) The coloration of your animals depends on your light, the animals must look good under your light.

4) Safety, the light must be safe around salt water. (or not spontaneously catch fire like some Chinese junk is known to do)

5) The fixture must be aesthetically pleasing to your eye, and your mate's eye.

 

Its ARGUABLY fair to say that one should budget about as much for the lighting as the cost of the rest of the system.

 

If you care about those 5 reasons.

 

If those 5 things dont matter to you, cheap out and buy any junk you like.

 

One can easily put thousands of dollars worth of frags in a 29 gallon tank. Or just a couple hundred, for the more frugal or less discerning; the rule of thumb doesnt apply to these hobbyists either.

[Horerczy]

I disagree with the idea that lighting is most important. You can have a stellar light but if you don't have good water chemistry, flow, and a proper diet for your tank inhabitants the light won't do diddly to save them.

 

Many photosynthetic animals require supplemental feeding regardless of your lights strength.

 

Without proper flow detritus can settle and block light from reaching corals. Plating corals are particularly prone to this.

 

Without good water chemistry corals will wither and their collars will fade.

 

While lighting may be important it must be understood that it works in tandem with ask the other aspects of your tank in a balance to keep animals healthy.

 

Also show me an instance where one of these evergrow fixtures burst in flame spontaneously.

 

The only Chinese led fixture i ever found that caught fire was a square floodlight. It was the power supply and it didn't even do any real damage.

 

While they are hardly efficient they are plenty good fixtures. Coral doesn't give a crap about the efficiency of the light source as long add its getting enough.

[ackattackkk]

I had a few reef tanks, or 1 tank I upgraded from a 45g to a 180g in a number of small leaps, back in the early to mid 80's. There was no such thing as led's then. it was fluorescents and halides and even mercury vapor and hps then. Now I want to set up a small 29g tank and it's all changed. Live Rock is "cultured" and refugiums are the standard.

I want to be able to keep anything from sps and clams on down. I'm planning on going with led's this time because they seem to involve far less maintenance and because I've never tried them before. They sound very promising. Trouble is I'm getting very conflicting info about them. I know they can grow almost any type of coral so that's covered. But which give you the best results for the price I'm looking at?

I'm on a budget now, around $100 to $175 is the most I want to spend, so i'm going with the cheap Chinese type and have narrowed it down to a few.

 

1) ebays dimmable 165w (sometimes called 120w) with 55 x 3w diodes. These seem to be sold at many places for a wide range of prices. the best prices around $80 to $99. Is there anything to recommend one over another?

 

2) Reef Radiance DM-165e, which seems to be another version of the same but go for $179. Are they a better product than the ebays?

 

3) Reef Breeders value fixture for $199. See above.

 

Alibaba.com seems to have a bit of everything. Has anyone dealt with them?

 

Also I had planned to put just 1 of these fixtures over my 29g and thought it might be overkill. I've read about people using these exact fixtures, or combinations of them, over much larger and deeper tanks with great results. But the guy at Reef Radiance told me I'd need 2 of the DM-165e's (formerly the 155e's) for my 30"x 12"x18" 29gal sps tank.. What do you guys think?

Do you have any recommendations in my price range I've overlooked?

Thanks in advance.

 

Kacey

I have a standard 29 gallon with the reefbreeders value fixture and I love it! My tank has been up for about 2 months. My zoas are growing good as well as my trumpet. Has a knob for white and a knob for blue light intensity.

[farkwar]

H,

 

Didnt you get a bad chinese Meanwell power supply from LGB?

 

I thought you did, if not, oh well. They are still not safe around salt water.

 

Oddesea lights are those with reports of spontaneous fires.

 

Evergrow ReefBreeder lights fail on aesthetics, as do the 5000 or so other Alibaba/Ebay Chinese junk. You may not think they are fugly, I do. Difference of opinion.

[kaceyo]

Hi folks,

First, to the person who thinks that if I can't afford to spend as much money as you did then I shouldn't bother... come on dude, lol!

Horerczy, I agree that light is just one of many aspects to caring for a reef tank

I know that some led,s are considered better than others, like cree etc. I'm not sure what brand the ones I'm looking at have, but I'm basing my choice on a thread I read called "poor mans (lol) guide to Chinese leds" or something close to that, along with other things I've read about the 55 x3w 165w leds showing that people have had a lot of success growing their corals under them,.as Ackatackkk says he has.

Also, I was thinking that the inclusion of low kelvin lights would contribute to algea growth. They would also take up space that could otherwise be used for higher k diodes, which would increase light that's beneficial to the corals. That's moot of course if the corals are already getting all they need from the higher k diodes that remain.

[farkwar]

I didnt say you couldnt afford it.

 

Of course you can afford to buy good lighting. Come on, dude.

 

1) Dont buy something else.

2) Save longer

3) Work some overtime

 

Youre goingbto be spending hundreds, if not thousands, on corals over the next year or two. Why cheap out on light?

[Horerczy]

Just maintain good water Params and you shouldn't have to worry about algae growth.

 

The neutral whites are more aesthetic than anything else and the cool whites would contribute to algae growth all the same.

 

Just about all light across the spectrum is useful to corals in one way or another as it stands.

 

And yes Fark i did. I replaced it with an even cheaper one from eBay and its still going strong.

[rawlins06]

How will live stock cost thousands of dollars? It's a 29 gallon. Maybe $200 tops for a few fish and cuc. Buy the $10-$50 frags and you can have corals for around $400 or less.